


What We've Become

by marsellia_rose



Category: Enemy at the Gates (2001)
Genre: Angst, F/M, M/M, Unrequited, expectations are not met
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 19:52:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1440727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsellia_rose/pseuds/marsellia_rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Praise? -R-A-I-S-E. … -A-T-I-O-N-S. Expectations. … I am what you made me." People have expectations, and sometimes they aren't all met. Because people are not always as great as you think they are, and all they can do is try.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What We've Become

“When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.”   
-Donald Miller

.

Vassili never expected to be much. After all, he was just a shepherd from the Urals. Danilov never expected to make a major contribution to the war. 

After all, what could he possibly do?

Neither man ever expected to fall in love with a man.

But then they met that fateful day at Stalingrad, and their expectations were shattered.

.

The first time Vassili saw Tania, he hadn’t met Danilov yet. His heart was open and free. And he was immediately smitten. Tania was beautiful; it was like seeing an angel before going off to fight. She never once left his mind.

That is, she never once left his mind until he met Commisar Danilov, and felt this thing. It was an indescribable thing, but it was a thing that would define his life. 

Perhaps the worst part was he allowed it to. He became who Danilov wanted him to be, did what Danilov wanted him to do; all for a feeling. 

Not that Danilov didn’t reciprocate. He did; he just did in his own way. Which was, unfortunately, not what Vassili hoped for. Because Danilov was always “far too busy”, or “in a rush”, or having “way too much to do, I’ll stop by later” to spend time with Vassili. (There was always something.) But Vassili was okay with that. (Or so he told himself.) It didn’t bother him. (At least, he didn’t let Danilov know.) Because of course Danilov was busy; he was an officer. He had more important things to do than spend time with the sniper he gave fame too. (Which stung, but what can you do?)

However, he always had time to write the letters with Vassili. (Why?) And so Vassili was even more eager to sit there, to write words he couldn’t spell in his messy scrawl while listening to Danilov’s voice. (He had such a nice voice- Vassili loved to hear him speak.)

“Praise?” 

“-R-A-I-S-E. Praise.” 

Vassili smiled, before continuing writing. He could almost pretend that Danilov chose words he couldn’t spell as a code- a special message. Praise. 

“Expectations. -A-T-I-O-N-S.”

Sometimes pretending it was a code hurt more than it helped. (Sometimes he wondered if Danilov knew what he was doing to him.) He wondered if he ever lived up to Danilov’s expectations, or if he was just another problem Danilov had to deal with.

When he saw Tania again, he immediately remembered her. And he remembered why he’d been so smitten by her. But he wasn’t, no anymore- he had Danilov.

That is, he thought he had Danilov. But then he saw the way Danilov looked at Tania and realized that maybe he didn’t have him. (Maybe he’d never really had him.)

And no matter how much it hurt, it made sense. Tania was beautiful. She was educated. (She could spell expectations and probably would live up to his too.) She deserved his praise.

And she was a woman. 

So Vassili found himself attempting to impress this woman; this beautiful woman. Because while he did not have the knowledge that she and Danilov possessed, she clearly was impressed with his sharpshooting. (Everyone except Danilov was impressed. Danilov just expected more.)

As the days went on, he began to notice things. Things like Tania hanging around him, or talking to him. (Things like her being sweeter to him than Danilov ever was.) And Danilov becoming colder; even less inclined to spend time with Vassili. 

And when Major Köning came to Stalingrad to kill him, and Danilov started building him up as this great hero- this hero who could triumph over everything- he began to feel the pressure. (Maybe it had been there all along.) He began to wonder why Danilov was really doing this. Was it really for him? (No.) Or was it for Danilov’s own career. 

He stopped suppressing his feeling for Tania, and found he was happier with her than he’d ever been with Danilov. (She was better for him. She loved him.)

Danilov’s expectations be damned. 

The entire time they were together, all Vassili wanted was for Danilov to love him. He didn’t expect anything of him. 

The entire time they were together, all Danilov wanted was for Vassili to do what was expected of him. He didn’t need Vassili to love him.

And then Danilov did what he would have expected Vassili to do for him, and died.


End file.
